The Child Support Enforcement Program started being implemented in 1975 as a federal-state program that secures financial support for children from their non-custodial parent.

Between the years 2004 and 2014, the share of CSE-eligible custodial parents who had already established agreements degenerated by 11 percentage points to 49% from 60%.

Child support professionals have an inkling as to why this is happening; it is because the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is also shrinking, resulting in fewer custodial parents being mandated to establish a CSE case as a condition of receiving financial help from the government.

The website of Maynard Law says that child support payments are determined by the courts via a myriad of factors such as what each parent makes financially and how much time they spend with their children. Income as determined by the courts include wages, bonuses, self-employment earnings, unemployment benefits, workers’ compensation, pensions, private or government retirement benefits, among others.

Child support determination also varies among states but there are a few basic factors that determine the amount of child support payments that will be awarded to the children. For instance, if the children had been used to a certain lifestyle (they had been rich and living extravagantly) during their stay with their married parents, both of the parents should have to ensure that the children would still be living this lifestyle, that is, this lifestyle is the one they would have lived anyway had their parents decided not to split up.

However, child support payments can be reduced if requested to the courts by the parent providing them, provided he or she has a legitimate reason for such a request, such as the loss of a job, which would make it difficult for him or her to pay the formerly agreed-upon child support amount. It is advised that the parent making the child support payments let the courts know as soon as possible of any difficulty in fulfilling his or her child support responsibilities, as forfeiture of such responsibilities can result in property seizure, suspension of business license, suspension of driver’s license, tax refund interception, and arrest and time in jail, among others.